Autumn Cat
by Luna-Claw
Summary: Deer is a cat that has lived in a twoleg place all her life, but soon she has to run away from lurking dangers. In her panic she could only think of one place to go. The forest. She soon becomes a apprentice of Sandclan. During her time as a warrior she discovers a lot about herself, and her history. Rated T for gore.
1. Prolouge

Prolouge-

**WHAM!** The squirrel stood no chance against Deer's lethal paws. "Did you see that LightLeaf? Did you see it?" Deer asked eager to know. "Yes, that was great, you are turning into an amazing hunter." LightLeaf purred softly, her dark cream fur nearly glowing in the light of the sun. "Yeah! And-"she stopped half mewl as she noticed the fattest pigeon she had ever seen. It was crossing one of the many thunderpaths that crossed the twoleg place that they lived in. _Stupid bird._ She thought. "Might as well get it." She mewed under her breath.

Her stalking was perfect, she made sure none of her paws touched a leaf, her body was low enough that the pigeon didn't see it and high enough that she just skimmed the top of the leaves. She was so close now. Just another paw step and she could pounce. And… Now! She yowled in her head. One of her paws landed on its neck and the other on its head, it was instantly dead. It was weak but plump for this time of leaf fall. "**GET OFF OF THERE!**" LightLeaf yowled from the side of the thunderpath. _What happened to her? _She asked silently. Deer swerved left and then right. "I don't see a-"Her mew dropped dead as she saw a monster racing towards her.

Her paws froze to the ground.

She was going to die.

This was the end to her short life.

Silence.

…

…

…

…

Deer's paws flailed in the air as she was pushed off of the thunderpath. She hit the ground with a thud and blacked out.

Deer's vision was blurred. She barely remembered a thing. _A monster was heading towards me! _She jerked her head up immediately as the thought crossed her mind. "Ouch!" she meowed, _I'm moving to fast._ She thought to herself. She slowly stood. Her feet were wobbly from when she was pushed off the thunderpath. _Pushed off! _She nearly mewed out loud as she remembered what happened. She was confused but she knew one thing for sure, somebody was hit by the monster and it wasn't her. The only other cat with her was… "No!" she yowled at the thought of her mother as she jerked her head to face the thunderpath. And there was the exact thing she hoped not to see.

LightLeaf's corpse laid on the thunderpath, her body was crushed. A few of her ribs were drenched in blood as they poked out of her chest. A small trail of blood trickled from her mouth. "LightLeaf!" Deer's yowl ended as a sob as she bounded over to her mother.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Deer ran after the hare. Just… a bit… closer… She was about to pounce when she tripped over her own tail. "Mouse dung!" she hissed silently. Prey had been growing scarce, not just because the first snowfall had fallen nearly a moon ago, but also because of these groups of cats that started to move in. They had called themselves gangs when she first met them, they had also nearly clawed her pelt off when she had refused to give them her freshkill. The 'gangs' had control of nearly every piece of freshkill and every cat. They don't care who they are dealing with, but it's almost as if they're word is law.

Deer padded thru the alley, there might just be a rat or a pigeon hiding from the snow. She stopped for a second to scent the air for any bit of prey. _Mouse! _She nearly wanted to yowl in joy. It was a bit faint but she could still tell one thing for sure. There was more than ten and they passed by here not long ago. They might still be hiding in the alley and then almost on cue, the sound of little feet was able to be heard between two garbage bags. Deer immediately crouched. There was nothing that could give her away besides herself. She slowly crept on what could soon be her meal for the day. As soon as she pounced mice started to pour out in pairs. They all were mistaken. The exit is where they would all meet they're death.

27 mice in total. All of which were a bit plump. Deer couldn't help but purr at the sight of a feast laid out in front of her. _I'll have to make a den for now. _She looked at the crevice that they were all hiding in. _That'll do._ She grabbed a few feathers she found outside of the alley. It took a bit to arrange them all. And it took a bit longer to take all of the mice in. _should I cover them with snow? Would they still rot that way? _She asked herself. _I might as well try it. _She better hurry. The gang cats would be coming out soon.

**I'm sorry that this story is at a slow start. There will be action in the next chapter though.**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The mice that Deer caught were juicy little things. And her idea of putting snow on the corpses seemed to work. None had gone bad since last night when she caught them. The gang had even walked right by her crevice and they hadn't smelled a thing. But today would be different.

The gang was as loud as they always were. They yowled to announce they're coming. _Another reason why it's so hard to hunt with them around. _Deer sighed in her head. It got ominously silent. It stayed that way for a few moments. Suddenly yowls and screeches of fury broke out. _Somebody refused to give them freshkill again._ She easily diagnosed. It wasn't hard considering that once that noise was directed towards her. But this time was different, that cat that they were chasing was a kit. They ran into the alley that Deer was in. The panicked kit looked at her and her crevice and suddenly barged inside. "Hey!" Deer hissed obviously annoyed. For a second the kits green gaze bored into Deer's amber gaze. Deer broke off when some members of a gang stopped right in front of the crevice "What do you want?" Deer hissed at the cats. A burly gray tom stepped forward. "We want the kitten." He commanded. "Why do you want the kitten?" Deer asked as innocently as she could. "She didn't have any prey to give us." Deer stared at them for a second. She then turned around pushed some snow to the side and gave them one mouse. "There." She pushed the mouse towards them. "What's this for?" the tom asked. "Since the kitten had nothing to give to you I'll give something for her." The tom looked at her up and then down. "Smart move." He meowed. He turned around, commanded his patrol to get a move on then left.

"Th-thank you." The kit mewed. Deer turned around to look at her. The she-kits fur was black and she had a small white streak down her forehead. "You got yourself in a lot of trouble there." Deer found herself scolding the kit. "I know." The kit shifted her paws nervously. "Where's your mom?" Deer supposed that the kits mom was supposed to give prey for the kit. "The gang killed her." The kits voice was full of sorrow. "That's horrible!" Deer nearly yowled. The kit looked so small now. These cats clearly didn't know about the warrior code, her mother used to be a warrior of Sandclan, she was taken away by twolegs from her home and brought to this twoleg place. "What's your name" she asked the small she-kit. "Mistletoe." Mistletoe mewed nervously. "Why did you do that, why did you give them your food? Now you're going to go hungry because of me!" Mistletoe suddenly burst out. "A cat's life is worth more than food." Came Deer's curt reply. "Do you have any family you can go to?" Deer hoped that the she-kit had some where to go, but to her disappointment Mistletoe shook her head. "You poor thing." Deer mewed softly. The kit looked at her teary eyed before burying her muzzle in Deer's fur. She laid her muzzle on Mistletoe's head. "Don't worry.".


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Mistletoe pounced onto Deer's back and hooked her tiny claws under Deer's skin. "Got yo-"Mistletoe's mew broke off as deer went limp and the two she-cats tumbled over. Mistletoe fell into a puddle breaking the thin layer of ice covering the top of it. Deer placed her paws onto Mistletoe's chest. "Got you." Deer purred triumphantly. It had been a moons since she had first met the she-kit, she had grown two times in size and she had also grown in personality. Mistletoe was no longer a frightened little kitten. She was now a playful and friendly little soul. "Now I'm wet!" She complained playfully and flicked some water at Deer. Deer purred in amusement as the few drops of water flew passed her ear. "I'm going back to the den." Mistletoe said flicking her tail. "I'll be there soon Mistle." Deer mewed using the she-kits nickname. A thaw had come only yesterday. The first bit of good news in moons.

As she turned around her paw splashed in the puddle. A quick glance at her reflection said a lot about what had happened recently. A small healing scar shows from her encounter with a small dog a few sunrises ago, a small nick in her ear showed from her first encounter with The Gang, her ruffled cream fur showed the hard life as a rouge and her delicately shaped face, narrow eyes and muzzle, large pointed ears and showed her SandClan heritage. Just as her cream fur, brown stripe down her back, Amber eyes and a reddish-brown "leaf" on her muzzle showed her ancestors fur. _Okay, enough thinking, I need to find prey. _She quickly dismissed the thought of her appearance and focused on finding prey. Opening her mouth to taste the air Deer padded away from the puddle. Nothing too recent, a stale dog scent and a newer robin scent. _Better than nothing._ Deer tried to encourage herself to go after the robin wherever it is. The scent led around a corner, heading to the home in a crevice. She followed the scent trying to keep her steps light so that the snow didn't crunch under the weight of her pads. Rounding the corner she saw the robin, chirping so loud that StarClan must have heard it. _Do you want to get caught?_ _Are all the birds around this twoleg place mouse-brains? _She asked the question silently. She stalked up to the robin until she was about a fox-length away. Waggling her haunches preparing to pounce then did the bird finally notice that it was being hunted. It flapped its small wings, sending ice crystals into Deer's eyes. Hissing with annoyance Deer clumsily pounced- missing the Robin but flying straight into a twoleg den. Pushing her paws against the hard stone Deer somehow managed turn around and slam herself straight into the ascending robin. She hit the ground in a storm of flailing paws and tail. Hissing she checked all her paws for injury. _None. _"Thank StarClan." She muttered staring at the broken robin. She held her gaze on the robin until something came barreling her over. Quickly springing to her paws hissing with fury Deer unsheathed her claws, preparing to claw her attacker… Until she saw a blur of black fur in the corner of her eye.


End file.
